Dual-band Tm 3+ -doped tellurite fiber amplifier and laser at 1.9 μm and 2.3 μm

• Published in: Scientific reports 2018-11, Vol.8 (1), p.16164
• Main Authors: Muravyev, S V, Anashkina, E A, Andrianov, A V, Dorofeev, V V, Motorin, S E, Koptev, M Y, Kim, A V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2045-2322

Ultrabroadband amplification and two-color CW lasing simultaneously near 1.9 μm and 2.3 μm in a Tm -doped tellurite fiber were demonstrated experimentally, for the first time to the best of our knowledge. A low-loss Tm -doped core fiber from TeO -ZnO-La O -Na O glasses stable against crystallization was produced by a special technique, providing a low concentration of hydroxyl groups. Supercontinuum from a highly GeO doped silica fiber pumped by an Er fiber laser system was used as a seed for an amplifier. A maximum gain of 30 dB and 7 dB was measured at 1.9 μm and 2.3 μm, respectively. We report detailed experimental and theoretical studies, which are in a very good agreement, of laser amplification and generation in the manufactured fiber with carefully measured and calculated parameters. A quantitatively verified numerical model was used to predict power scalability at 2.3 μm in schemes with optimized parameters at increased pump power. The presented results show that a high-quality tellurite fiber is a promising candidate for developing lasers in the 2.3 μm atmospheric window which are particularly relevant for applications in gas sensing, eye-safe laser radars, breath analysis, remote sensing and stand-off trace gas detection.